


Someday, Tonight

by brettt_ashley



Category: Agent Carter (TV)
Genre: "cartinelli trash" should be an official tag, F/F, F/M, Femslash, Femslash February, alternating pov, headcanon based on the season finale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-26
Updated: 2015-02-26
Packaged: 2018-03-15 07:38:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3439010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brettt_ashley/pseuds/brettt_ashley
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peggy finds the strength to let go of her almost lover and embrace a new dance partner. #angtsyfluff</p>
            </blockquote>





	Someday, Tonight

**Author's Note:**

> Clearly I have lots of feelings about the song choice from last night's episode. Be gentle, friends... this is my first cartinelli fic.
> 
> p.s. the title comes from the first and last words of the song "the way you look tonight" which played during the brooklyn bridge scene in the season finale

“We have to let him go…”

The words Peggy spoke to Howard over the radio had taken up residency in her mind and began to weigh heavily on her thoughts. For so long, she’s wished he was still here. Wished they could have had that dance. Wished they could have shared a second kiss. Wished they could have had time to properly fall in love. Wished they could have had a life together. Hell, wished she could have just saved him. But Peggy knows she can’t keep living in the past, wishing her present was different. 

It’s hard to say goodbye to past lovers, but what about past almost lovers? Peggy knows the world sees her, well sees Betty Carver, as this romantic star-crossed lover of Captain America. But really, Peggy feels like a fraud. She hadn’t exchanged but one chaste kiss with Steve… oh but the hope of so much more kept lingering. It’s hard to say goodbye to past lovers, but at least you have memories to wallow in as you grieve. With past almost lovers though, all you have is this lingering feeling of what could have been. Without a past to wallow in, you find yourself always thinking about what you wished the future held. It’s hard to find closure with almosts and wishes. 

Peggy has spent far too much of her young life grieving. It’s what made her the poised and independent woman she is… it’s also why she keeps people at arms length. Part of her, whether conscious or not, prefers to keep people as almosts for the fear of what losing something more would feel like. 

She got a taste of that while trying to break Howard of his trace. No, she never felt anything more than platonic feelings for him – unless you count the passionate hatred she frequently harbored toward him. But damn, would she be devastated if she lost him too. 

“We have to let him go…” she told Howard. We. She knew she had to face the music too. It was time to let herself find closure. She couldn’t save Steve. But she could save the people still in her life. And if she was being honest with herself, she needed to let go of Steve if she wanted to save herself too. A gal can only survive so long putting on a brave face, while barely holding things together. Jarvis was right, she needed someone in her life to lean on. But most importantly, she needed to find the resolve to save herself first. 

These were the thoughts weighing on her mind as she walked along the pedestrian path of the bridge, fingers holding tight around the vial in her pocket. 

Time to let him go. 

 

* * * 

Angie could sense that Peggy’s mind was elsewhere when she got back from her mysterious outing. Angie had spent all afternoon exploring bedrooms and singing loudly in the echoing foyer. She wanted to share this bliss with Peggy, but she knew from the distant look on the other woman’s face that her mind was somewhere else. Rightfully so. Peggy promised Angie she’d explain everything someday and that day had finally come. Earlier than Angie thought it would, much to her initial delight. But as she listened to Peggy tell her about spies and intelligence agencies and lives tragically cut short, Angie soon realized there was more to know than could be told in one day. 

She also knew it was more than one person should have to process all on their own. Despite wanting to be there for Peggy, even before she knew the depth of things, Angie knew she was being kept at arms length… but all Angie wanted was to be close enough to wrap Peggy in her arms and help quiet the thoughts rattling around in her brain. The two were making progress on that front though. Angie stubbornly continued to wedge her way into Peggy’s life, celebrating the little victories. And now she understood exactly why it was so hard for Peggy to even just confide in Angie about her day. But she also knew, now more than ever, that Peggy couldn’t continue to bottle up her feelings. She would simply lose herself in the depths of everything if she did. 

Angie herself was lost in her thoughts while she and Peggy enjoyed a nightcap in one of the many sitting rooms of the Stark mansion. The radio playing quietly in the background, smooth jazzy standards she knew Peggy loved. Angie was looking (in a way that could only be described as lovingly) at Peggy, whose eyes were focused off in the distance. Her brow furrowed with this look of both pain and hope. God, Angie wished she knew what thoughts were running through the other woman’s head. As a new song began to play, Angie stood up and walked over to Peggy – breaking her attention away from whatever was weighing on her mind. Wordlessly, Angie reached out her hand. Peggy looked up, lips pursed and eyes glassy. 

“Dance with me, English?” 

Angie’s voice pierced the silence between them. For a moment, as Peggy hesitated, Angie worried Peggy would wall herself off again. But much to her relief, Peggy took a deep breath and let her hand fall cautiously onto Angie’s. 

Angie pulled the other woman into the middle of the open room. Peggy’s grip on her hand tightened, as if she needed to feel anchored to something. Or maybe someone. Wanting to be that anchor, Angie didn’t let go and just intertwined their fingers as she pulled their hands to rest on her chest between them. She wrapped her other arm around Peggy’s waist and just held her close as she swayed to the sound of the piano. 

“Someday, when I’m awfully low. When the world is cold. I will feel a glow, just thinking of you…” the radio crooned. 

“And of course you picked a slow song,” Peggy laughed, sounding like she was on the verge of crying. 

Angie didn’t know exactly why Peggy was so affected by this, but she pulled back her head to look at her inquisitively. She wanted to find the right balance of encouraging Peggy to open up, without prying so much that Peggy retreated back into her thoughts. 

“What, you think I make an unlikely dance partner for a song like this? I can sway with the best of them, Pegs,” Angie says with a smile, hoping it’ll bring a smile to Peggy’s face too. But instead, the tears that have been welling up in her eyes spill down her cheeks. 

“Aww honey, I didn’t mean anything by it,” Angie says as she reaches to brush away the tear rolling down Peggy’s face. She had in fact meant something by it, but she didn’t want to push Peggy any further outside her comfort zone. She let her hand cradle Peggy’s face as a tearful smile finally began to shine through. 

“It’s just that…” Peggy pauses a moment to gather her thoughts and take a shaky deep breath. “I’ve spent a long time waiting for the right partner. And the person I thought would be the one, well he turned out to just be an almost…”

Peggy pauses again, smiling in that way she does when she’s trying to keep her emotions from spilling out everywhere. Angie slowly wraps both her arms around Peggy’s waist, anchoring her close. She feels Peggy sigh a little, settle into the embrace. Angie has her suspicions about exactly who and what Peggy is referring to, thinking back to some of the things the woman had divulged to her earlier. She didn’t need to know specifics though. She knew Peggy saying anything right now was a little victory and she was willing to be content with that. She put her head on Peggy’s shoulder as they continued to sway in the middle of the room. 

“With each word, your tenderness grows…” 

Angie wasn’t always the most tactful when it came to handling fragile feelings, but a song, well a song was something she could handle. So as she held Peggy close, she began singing along… “With each word, your tenderness grows… tearing my fear apart… and that laugh, that wrinkles your nose… touches my foolish heart.”

 

* * * 

Peggy’s heart swelled as she listened to the girl in her arms sing. Her voice so soft and delicate, very much unlike her usual brazen tone. It was a comforting sound, exactly what Peggy needed to hear right now to keep herself from getting lost too deep in her thoughts. 

It had been a long day, she was emotionally drained and honestly wasn’t sure how she had found the strength to keep going. But here in Angie’s arms, she realized it was so much easier to find the strength when you had someone to lean on. 

“Lovely, never never change…” Angie sang the bittersweet melody. 

Peggy had known someday, she’d finally find the strength to allow herself closure over Steve. And she knew when that day finally came, she’d have to start finally living in the present and not in a fog of almosts and what ifs and could have beens. 

“Keep that breathless charm…”

She also knew Angie wasn’t an almost; she was the anchor Peggy’s life had been missing. And she was a ‘what if’ that could still turn into something more. 

“Won’t you please arrange it, because…”

She also knew she had promised Angie more, someday. Their goodbye at the Griffith had been full of hope and anticipation of what their future held. She had promised that someday, she’d give Angie answers… but she hoped Angie also understood that promise of “someday” held so much more as well. 

“I love you… Just the way you look tonight…” Angie sang the last few notes of the song at a breathy whisper, more like a confession than singing the line really. 

Peggy stopped swaying, planting herself firmly on the ground. As Angie looked up with a hopeful expression and locked eyes with her, Peggy hugged her tighter. And then let her lips find Angie’s, falling into a gentle and tentative kiss. Peggy paused, pulling away slightly to take a deep breath and gauge the younger woman’s reaction. 

When Angie smiled and leaned in for a second kiss, Peggy knew that someday had finally come. Someday was tonight.


End file.
